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Friday, June 14, 2013

50th Anniversary of Abington Township School District v. Schempp

June 17 marks the 50th anniversary of an important Supreme Court ruling
called Abington Township School
District v. Schempp. In this decision, the high
court struck down mandatory, coercive and school-sponsored prayer and Bible
reading in America ’s
public schools.

Even after five decades, this ruling remains the subject of many myths.
Here, courtesy of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, are the
facts about this decision:

Myth: The Supreme Court has banned all forms of
religious activity in public schools.

Truth: The Supreme Court struck down only government-mandated prayer and Bible reading in public schools. In
many states, participation in these religious activities was for all practical
purposes compulsory. Truly voluntary devotions by students have always been
legal. Many secondary public schools also have student-run religious clubs that
meet during non-instructional time. This arrangement is legal because these
clubs are voluntary, and no one is compelled to take part.

Myth: Only atheists oppose school pray­er.

Truth: Many devout Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc., oppose
school-sponsored prayer because it violates freedom of conscience. During the
debate over school prayer amendments in the 1960s, Southern Baptists led the
opposition, arguing that imposing government-mandated prayer on youngsters
infringed on parental rights. (Southern Baptists switched sides on the issue
institutionally only after fundamentalists took control of the denomination.
Many individual Baptists still oppose official school prayer.)

Myth: Public schools can’t teach about religion even
in an objective manner.

Truth: The school prayer rulings did not affect objective
instruction about religion. In fact, the Supreme Court made it clear in the Schempp ruling that even-handed academic
instruction about religion in classes dealing with history, art, literature,
etc. is perfectly legal. Justice Tom Clark, who wrote the opinion, went out of
his way to make this clear.

Myth: No one objected to school prayer prior to the
1960s.

Truth: School-sponsored religious exercises have been controversial
as long as there have been public schools. In the mid-19th century, Roman
Catholics spoke out against the Protestant character of prayer and Bible reading
in public schools. Lawsuits were filed in many state courts. In one notable
case, the Ohio Supreme Court in 1870 ruled that public education officials in Cincinnati had the right
to remove devotional Bible reading from public schools.

Myth: Most public schools sponsored prayer until the
Supreme Court struck it down.

Truth: Many states had no laws on the subject of prayer and Bible
reading in public schools. In some states, courts had ruled mandatory prayer
and Bible reading unconstitutional. Although official prayer and Bible reading
were common in many Eastern and Southern states, these practices were less
common in Midwestern and Western states.

Myth: A generic prayer could be composed that most
people would find acceptable.

Truth: The state of New York
tried this in the late 1950s. The so-called “Regent’s Prayer” was drafted by
bureaucrats and offended many believers and non-believers. Since then,
religious diversity in America
has expanded even more. There is no way a generic prayer could be composed that
would satisfy Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. Such a prayer
would also offend atheists, humanists and other non-believers.

Myth: Americans support prayer in schools.

Truth: Polls show support for the right of children to pray in school
voluntarily – the situation that exists now. When polls go more in depth and
ask people if they support coercive or mandatory forms of religious worship in
public schools, support drops sharply. Parents realize that the prayer said
might conflict with their beliefs and usurp parental rights.

The Supreme Court made the right call 50 years ago. Prayer and religious
worship must be voluntarily chosen to be meaningful. No government-sponsored
institution should have the right to compel children to pray or read religious
texts. (Christians should ask themselves how they would feel if their children
were forced to recite non-Christian prayers in school.) Far from infringing on
freedom, the Schempp decision
actively protects it. On June 17, we should celebrate this important ruling and
the values it represents.